Depression and Dissertations

August 1st is Jerry Garcia’s birthday. His most popular song, Touch of Grey, describes how too many doctoral students feel about their dissertations…

Depression is a serious thing, and I absolutely don’t want to make light of it here. But, the fact is that I talk to doctoral students several times a week who say that they’re “depressed” about their dissertations.

Although most of these folks are just fine in other areas of their lives, when they describe the dissertation process, it sounds a lot like clinical depression:

“I cannot decide on a topic.”

“I feel hopeless, overwhelmed.”

“Maybe I’m not good enough.”

“I feel guilty or preoccupied when I’m doing anything else.”

“I feel like there’s no use when I try to work on my dissertation.”

“Sometimes I just avoid it altogether.”

In Touch of Grey, Jerry Garcia laments that “Every silver lining’s got a touch of grey.”

Do you ever feel that way about your dissertation?

When you try to develop a topic and problem statement, do you feel it’s impossible?

When you sit down to write a section of your proposal, do you think it’s hopeless?

When you get a draft back from your committee with tons of “feedback” in the right margin, do you feel defeated?

If you feel that way about life in general, you should absolutely reach out to a professional for help. Again, depression is a very serious thing, and you deserve to be rid of it.

But, if you only feel that way about your dissertation,…you should still reach out for help. You could find a support group or forum of dissertation students online. Find an accountability partner at your university. Or, you could talk to me about professional academic and emotional support.